Writer, Editor, and Blogger

I’m looking for submissions for In Case We Die, a project I’m working on with Unknown Press. This is meant to extend the conversation I was attempting to get started with In Case I Die, which was a frank summary of all the strange and unexplainable things that happened to me. The general idea is that we don’t talk about the unexplained things that have happened to us, and therefore we are completely in the dark about how often those things happen, which leaves us with a disappointingly unexciting view of the universe that is also not accurate.

In In Case We Die, Bud Smith and I will be curating and editing submissions from others who wish to share their strange stories. The result will hopefully be that we all get a better sense about what is truly normal. Because perhaps the worst thing we could do as humans is pretend that the world is more normal than it is or withhold information that could shatter that sense of normalcy. And the submitters to this anthology, I’m guessing, will appreciate the chance to do their part, before it’s too late.

Submission details:

Essentially send your works to unknown.anthology@gmail.com by 4/30/2015. Don’t worry too much about any other rules or specifications.

In 2013, I spent most of my free hours working on the 12 in 12 project. It’s a project in which I attempted to produce 12 books in just 12 months. I finished the year with nine. Overall, I’m happy with that. After all, it took 10 years to write and produce my first novel, Super. Nine in one year is amazing. Read the rest of this entry »

While I was working on splitting Tolstoy’s War and Peace into the two separate books, Just the War, and Just the Peace, I would occasionally tell people what I was up to, and most people would laugh and think it was a joke. And it was a joke! A very funny one, too! But I didn’t let that stop me from actually doing it. Just the War, Just the Peace is now available from Emergency Press. Both volumes are sold in one simple ebook, in most of the major ebook formats (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble–I believe Google is coming soon). At $0.99, it’s a bargain!

In case you’re not following Andrew Wiggins’ basketball career, I’ll give you a quick update. He’s possibly the best basketball player of his age, or at least could potentially one day be. Right now, he’s a Freshman playing at Kansas University, but will likely be a very high draft pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

My novel, Super, is now available on the iPad, which fills me with tremendous joy–not only is it wonderful to see my book in one of the most prominent “bookstores” on the planet, it’s also wonderful to finally be able to present the book in a format that can handle the interactive needs of much of Super‘s content.

But of course it’s not all about fancy features and interactivity. Sometimes it’s just nice to see elements from the book with a little color.

Does the RBZ sign really need to be in red? Yes. It really does need to be in red. The black-and-white printed interior of the paperback version is fine–but it doesn’t have a red RBZ sign.

I’m super happy to announce that Charlie Potter has officially joined the 12 in 12 project as Art Director. This means that he’ll be responsible for producing the covers for 11 of the 12 titles (one of the titles will be put out by Uno Kudo, the non-profit organization headed by designer Erin McParland), as well as oversee the development of any guest art included in the project. For one or two of the titles, he’ll do some interior illustrations also.

Charlie Potter is the brilliant book designer for Super, a book that required an intense amount of design in simulating physical documents as well as emulating the look of a corporate superhero environment (letterheads, etc.). As part of promoting Super, Charlie also developed posters, desktop backgrounds, stickers, props for the trailers, and more! Read the rest of this entry »

Crash thinking is a huge influence in my life right now, and partly the reason why I’m attempting the 12 in 12 project (producing 12 books in 12 months).

Crash thinking means using the knowledge that sometimes you can do something better by using an approach that defies all logic as well as your best instincts.

Example: Pretend you’re in charge of safety at the Space Needle. You know that it’s technically possible for people on the observation deck to climb over the railing, through the ropes and stand out on the spokes that circle the top of the tower (view an image of the Space Needle and its spokes here). How do you make it safer?

I work in online high school course development. The field is at an historic moment in history: the moment just before an innovative online education company takes over the field and sets the standard for online high school education.

I’ve taken to calling this theoretical education company “the future Amazon of online education,” a phrase that often raises scoffs among people who will listen to me. Many don’t think a single company can dominate online education in the same way that Amazon dominated the book market. And when they say so, usually I just think silently to myself, That’s probably what people thought about the book market before Amazon.

But dominating the online high school education market wouldn’t be that difficult. It would just depend on an intelligently designed content management system. I’m going to describe that content management system to you now. Read the rest of this entry »